Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp labelled ‘a toddler’ – Reds not really ‘a top club’

Liverpool are not a top club and manager Jurgen Klopp was ‘a toddler’ compared to Real Madrid’s Carlo Ancelotti this week.

That’s according to journalist Henk Spaan, who has laid into the Reds and their manager after defeat in the Champions League this week.

Liverpool were knocked out of the competition on Wednesday courtesy of a 1-0 defeat at the Santiago Bernabeu thanks to Karim Benzema’s strike in the 78^th minute.

In truth the damage had been done in the first leg, when Liverpool threw away a 2-0 lead at Anfield and lost the tie 5-2.

They showed no signs of reversing that in Spain, with a limp, lifeless performance nowhere near the energetic and drama filled European nights they’ve enjoyed in the past.

Their performance over both legs against Real Madrid, who they were competing against in the Champions League final last season, has seen them receive plenty of criticism and Spaan is the latest to stick the knife in.

“Is Liverpool a top club? Can you call a team a top club with someone like Milner at the centre of midfield?” he wrote in his column for Het Parool.

“Do Liverpool have top footballers? Mo Salah, alright. Alexander-Arnold, Fabinho, Van Dijk? Once they were top players. Liverpool can only be called a top club if you look at the budget.

“The level difference with Real Madrid was almost improbable. Benzema, Vinicius, Kroos, Modric, Valverde, Nacho and Camavinga would all be in the starting line-up at Liverpool.

“Klopp was a toddler compared to the mature Ancelotti, a coach doing his job with raised eyebrows watching the madness around him.”